Solar panel based electric systems typically comprise one or more solar panels. The system itself is typically assembled on the roof of a building, on a ground mounted frame, or on a pole mounted frame, which may be set upon a wall or other structure. A solar panel electrical system may comprise one solar panel or two or more solar panels. Each solar panel includes one or more cables, which are typically applied in serial or parallel fashion from one panel to the next. These cables include a ground wire assembly, which is used to ground the solar panels and the underlying frame at appropriate points. Often the grounding and other wires must be tied down to secure the wires and prevent the wires from being damaged. In a typical case, the grounding assembly requires a number of grounding screws or bolt systems, which must be provided in several places depending on the number of solar panels. Each solar panel must attach to at least one grounding wire assembly, and each portion of the mounting assembly must be similarly grounded to the grounding wire assembly.
A solar panel electrical system typically comprises one or more arrays of solar panels mounted on a solar panel mounting system. The solar panel mounting system of a solar panel based electrical system typically is formed from a number of metal rails or poles that extend in parallel along the length of the solar panels to form a frame or support structure, and these rails are then typically attached to a roof structure, mounted on the ground or mounted to one or more poles, which may be affixed for example in a wall structure. As mentioned above, these metal rails or poles are also grounded to the electrical grounding wire assembly. In a typical installation, each solar panel is mounted to the mounting system using various types of clamps. These clamps typically differ depending on which portion of the solar panel system is being mounted, for example a panel mounted on the end of a solar panel array may require different clamp components for securing the edge of the solar pane that forms the end-edge of an array and for securing edges that are internal to the array, or for securing a panel that is centrally mounted to the solar panel electrical system such that each edge of the centrally mounted panel is an internal-edge of the array. When a solar panel system is installed on a roof, various types of roof mounting brackets are used depending on the type of roof upon which the solar panels are mounted which may require different solar panel mounting components.
Roof mounting systems are used to attach various structures to roofs, such as snow barricades, solar panels, lightning protection, mechanical equipment and other accessories such as signage and poles. Roof mounting systems are known for attaching to various types of roofs and roofing materials, including seamed or metal roofs, wood roofs and membranous roofs. Due to the weight of, or weight that must be supported by, such structures, and the need for the structures to remain stable in various weather conditions, the integrity of the entire system, including the attachment of the structures to the roofs, as well as attachments between the mounting system and the mounted structures, is critical. Similarly, when mounting a solar panel system to a roof mounting system, the structural integrity of each system must be maintained.
Using conventional solar panel mounting systems to mount and support a solar panel electrical system is a labor intensive effort requiring the assembly of many different parts and different connectors as discussed above. Installation of the many different parts also requires various different tools on hand to enable the installation. Furthermore, typical systems require substantial labor and organization in order to efficiently manage the cabling of the electrical cables, including the grounding cables. Additionally, substantial labor is required to ensure that each component of the solar panel electrical and mounting systems is properly grounded.
Accordingly, it is desirable to have a simplified solar panel mounting system that easily integrates to existing mounting system, reduces the number of parts required, reduces the number of tools require, simplifies the management of the electrical cabling, and reduces the amount of effort necessary to properly ground the solar panel electric and mounting systems.